Ricky Gervais returns to TV — or at least Netﬂix — with the new comedy-drama “Derek.” / NETFLIX

LOOKING FOR A LAWYER?
CALL THE BAR ASSOCIATION’S
LAWYER REFERRAL SERVICE

215.238.6333

Netflix rules. Ricky
Gervais goes the
streaming route
with the comedydrama “Derek,” in
which he plays the
“slow” caretaker at
a nursing home. Fall
TV preview. There’s
a whole new batch
of shows that may
die horrible deaths.
PAGES 12-16

1
NEWS

See more at www.metro.us

www.metro.us
Weekend, September 13-15, 2013

2

SEPTA could eliminate
nine lines under plan
Doomsday. SEPTA
oﬃcials fear the
worst if funding
doesn’t come
through.
If the state doesn’t allocate more money to
public transit, SEPTA’s
current routes could drastically change.
Joseph Casey, SEPTA’s
general manager, testified
Thursday in front of the
state Senate Transportation Committee, producing
two very revealing maps
— SEPTA’s current transit routes, and a map that
shows the possible elimination of nine rail lines, the
closure of a subway line
and the conversation of
trolley routes to bus routes.

A map, left, shows SEPTA’s current routes but a second map, right,
shows what could be eliminated if there’s no funding. / SEPTA

“It’s real,” Casey said.
“It’s not fabricated. It’s
what the price of inaction
is.”
A bill that would provide more than $500 million — enough to maintain — was passed in the
state Senate in June, before summer recess. The

bill has yet to move forward in the House.
Officials say the plan
could leave nearly 90,000
daily riders without rail
service. Bridges are in
poor condition, subway
cars are aging and other
new vehicles are needed,
Casey said.

Top 3

“We have a backlog
of repairs of $5 billion,”
Casey said. “That’s with
equipment and facilities
well past their useful life.
Under the current funding scenario, the capital
program we have is $300
million. As that proceeds
over the next 10 years,
that $5 billion will grow
to $6.5 billion.”
The realignment plan
won’t be rolled out immediately, but parts of it
could happen as early as
next year. The Cynwyd
line could be eliminated
in 2014, followed by Media/Elwyn in 2015 and
Chestnut Hill West in
2018. West Trenton, Airport, Warminster, Wilmington/Newark, Fox Chase
and Chestnut Hill East
lines would close eight
years after that.
It sounds too far away

to worry about now, but
Casey reassures, it’s not.
“Power sub stations —
if they go out, there’s no
money now,” he said.
It’s not a wish list, he
added; it’s what SEPTA
needs now. “Hopefully
the House gets their act
together and tries to pass
a bill,” Casey said. “I just
don’t know if it will happen.”
Other services that
would be affected include:
truncating service on the
Lansdale/Doylestown Line
by 2018 and the Paoli/
Thorndale Line by 2023
and suspending service on
the Broad-Ridge Spur of
the Broad Street Line and
eliminating all express
service on the BSL.

CHRISTINA
PACIOLLA

christina.paciolla@metro.us

LGBT. Judge orders
MontCo to stop with
same-sex marriages

What’s
trending
at Metro.
us

A Pennsylvania judge has
ordered a Montgomery
County court official to
stop issuing marriage
licenses to gay couples.
In an opinion issued
Thursday, Pennsylvania
Commonwealth Court
President Judge Dan
Pellegrini wrote that
Montgomery County
Register of Wills Bruce
Hanes did not have the
power to decide on his
own whether the state’s
ban on gay marriage was
unconstitutional.
The state’s Health Department sued Hanes in
August after he began is-

suing marriage licenses to
same-sex couples. Hanes
began issuing the licenses
after the U.S. Supreme
Court in June ruled that
the federal government
must recognize same-sex
unions in states where
they are legal.
Pennsylvania Attorney
General Kathleen Kane announced that she would
not defend the state’s ban
on gay marriage.
Spokesman Frank
Custer said officials there
are still reviewing the
ruling. They have stopped
issuing licenses, he said.
REUTERS

Sentenced

Pasquale
murderer gets
17 years

No threat of waves on this beach
Artist J. W. Gruber, of Sand Castles and Sculptures, sculpts during the Flyers three-day Fan Fest at
XFINITY Live! in South Philadelphia on Thursday. / RIKARD LARMA, METRO

Justin Robinson, 16,
was sentenced to 17
years in jail Thursday
for luring Autumn
Pasquale, 12, to his

Clayton, N.J. home last
year with an offer to
trade bicycle parts, and
then dumped her body
in a recycling bin after
strangling her to death.
Robinson will
serve 14.5 years of his
sentence before he is
eligible for parole. METRO

3 philadelphia Weekend, September 13-15, 2013

www.metro.us

www.metro.us
Weekend, September 13-15, 2013

#ONLY ONE STAR

PHILADELPHIA

4

Brings you Fall’s biggest fashion stories

Protesters filled Council chambers, calling for full school funding. / RIKARD LARMA, METRO

City Council
returns, but so
do protesters
Uproar. Calling
for more school
funding, protesters
were quite vocal for
Council’s first day.

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City Council returned Sept.
12 for its first hearing this
legislative session — and
so did protesters calling
for more funding for the
city’s struggling schools.
Advocates interrupted the
Council session with an
impromptu mic check.
Standing in the back of
chambers,
protesters
waved signs and chanted,
“$50 million is not enough!
Charity is no substitution
for full funding!”
The statement was a
shot at a plan announced
by Mayor Michael Nutter under which the city
would partner with private
organizations to raise money for school supplies, essentially crowdfunding the
School District shortfall.
After several minutes
of chaos, the protesters
marched out, chanting
“We’ll be back!”
The rally came despite
the fact several Council
members brought forth
proposals related to the
School District budget
crisis. Those that sparked
the most debate came
from Councilman Wilson
Goode Jr., who took aim at

the city’s 10-year property
tax abatement on newly
constructed or improved
properties. Goode last year
introduced a bill capping
the abatement amount at
$500,000 and reducing it
during the final five years
by 20 percent annually. As
a portion of Philadelphia’s
property taxes go to fund
city schools, the legislation would release more
revenue.
Goode has several times
claimed the tax break
benefits largely the “new,
few and well-to-do,” while
developers and real estate
organizations contend it
draws much-needed development and new residents
to the city, broadening its
tax base. But that proposal
was tabled, as it fell short
of the votes necessary for
it to pass.

“Needless to say, I will
introduce the first abatement bill every week until a vote is taken,” Goode
said. He also brought forth
a second piece of legislation that would extend the
property tax abatement
indefinitely to all city and
School
District-owned
properties. “The bill asks
a simple question,” Goode
said to fellow Council
members. “Do we want
to continue taking money
from the School District
through the abatement
program? If you want to
stop taking money from
the School District, vote
‘yes.’ If you want to keep
taking money from the
School District, vote ‘no.’”

Councilwoman Jannie
Blackwell, on behalf of
Council President Darrell Clarke, introduced
a bill under which the
city would give the
School District $50 million in exchange for its
shuttered properties,
which the city would
then sell.

•

Legislation introduced
by Councilwoman
Blondell Reynolds Brown
calls for hearings to
investigate the eﬃciency
of collections of the
School Income Tax.

•

Councilman Kenyatta
Johnson proposed
an investigation of
the School District’s
transition plan following
the closing last year of
24 city schools.

Innovation. Drexel
hopes the college
can help decipher
and lead high-tech
advances.
Generation Joystick, the
gobs of young people who
fiddle with gadgets and
frolic in virtual reality,
have forced Drexel University’s hand.
The university announced this week plans
to add a new school — the
College of Computing and
Informatics — to foster and
address challenges spurred
from technological innovation.
“I think society has
moved us this way,” said
David Fenske, who was
chosen as the school’s
dean.
Fenske named three
parts — 1) the rapid growth

and variety of computing devices, 2) the large
amounts of data and misinformation broadcast to
people who can’t adequately interpret the information, 3) the lack of access
to these devices for many
Americans — that provided an opportunity for the
college to dedicate space
to study the impact of technology more in-depth.
“I think these three
things have really forced
computing and information together in this kind
of joined, applied domain,”
Fenske said.
The new college, which
will open next fall, is a consolidation of the College of
Information Science and
Technology, the Department of Computer Science
and the Department of
Computing and Security
Technology. About 2,200
students are expected to
enroll in its inaugural year.
“What I think what

PHILADELPHIA

6

Scumbags

Quote

“We’re trying to
figure out ... how to
co-locate the kinds of
businesses that can
be not just started
but incubated and
execrated to create
a new economic
development here in
Philadelphia.”

Chitwood’s book / PROVIDED

Chitwood
reveals tell-all
book title

Penske
On creating new technology
companies and innovations in Philly.

we’ve done here,” he said,
“is both reflect what happened in society, and to
better prepare students
to engage in enterprises
and innovations of that
society.”

TOMMY
ROWAN

tommy.rowan@metro.us

Capturing America’s
oldest street on film
Rudi and Elise Wenterbach take pictures this week of
Elfreth’s Alley, known as America’s oldest residential street.
The couple are visiting from Australia. / RIKARD LARMA, METRO

“Tough Cop: Mike
Chitwood vs. the
‘Scumbags’” is the
title of the 69-year-old
Upper Darby Police
superintendent’s upcoming tell-all book,
which is set to release
on Oct. 15.
The book, a collection of the South
Philly native’s best
stories, was co-written
with Harold Gullan.
It will be released in
paperback for $17.95
and ebook for $7.99.
TOMMY ROWAN

A six-alarm fire that
broke out Thursday afternoon inside an ice cream
shop on the Seaside Park
boardwalk continued to
rage well into the night.
The blaze, which began around 2:15 p.m. at
the Kohr Brothers Frozen
Custard shop, spread to
at least 19 other buildings, fanned by high
winds.
Seaside Park Police
Chief Francis Larken
told reporters at least 80
percent of the boardwalk has been destroyed
and up to three dozen
businesses have been

decimated.
Several firefighters and residents were
reportedly being treated
for smoke inhalation,
though no serious injuries were reported as of
press time.
Gov. Chris Christie
was on location and said
at least 400 firefighters
were fighting the blaze.
The fire came as the
section of the Seaside
boardwalk was rebounding from Hurricane
Sandy damage it suffered
last October. Check www.
metro.us for updates.

A NOTE TO OUR
RUSSIAN PEN PAL
Dear President Putin,
Thanks for your recent
open letter to America
regarding Syria. As you
know, our plans for
possibly visiting your old
pal, Bashar al-Assad, are
somewhat up in the air, so
please tell him not to hold
dinner.
I was intrigued by your
thoughts on how it can
be unwise for big military
powers to start throwing their missiles around
without the U.N.’s blessing.
I assume you are speaking
from experience. Ha! Don’t
spill your borsch; I’m just
ribbing you. But in the
spirit of offering friendly
advice and a little quid pro
quo, here are some ideas
that you might find useful
when you’re hanging out
in Red Square.
For starters, what’s
with taking your shirt
off all the time? You’re a
handsome guy (in a sort
of former-KGB way) but it
seems a tad creepy. Kind

I was intrigued
by your thoughts
on how it can be
unwise for big
military powers to
start throwing their
missiles around
without the U.N.’s
blessing.
of like, “Sure, Russia is a
super power. Just look at
these guns!” I don’t want
to take away all your fun,
but maybe you could wean
yourself from the practice
with … oh, I don’t know…
maybe some sort of mesh
tank top?
Second, how about
burying Lenin? I realize he is an important
figure in your country’s
past, and when I was in
Moscow some years ago I
eagerly made the trek to

his tomb. And it was honestly fascinating to see him
propped up inside that
glass box. But while it’s
all well and good to turn
historical sites into tourist
attractions, doing so with
historical figures goes a bit
too far.
And lastly … how do
I say this nicely? Maybe
you could go a little
easier on the offering of
unsolicited advice, especially that part about telling Americans that their
country is not exceptional. I get your point:
We’re all human beings,
all created equal, yadda
yadda yadda. But in that
very sense, no one likes
hearing that he or she is
not special. And when
those words come from
a bare-chested Russian
with his own history of
international meddling,
it’s even worse.
Just a few ideas.
Regards,
Tom

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